Hosmer fuels Royals’ rally in win against Twins

ROYALS 5, TWINS 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The threat of Terrance Gore’s wheels helped Eric Hosmer deliver an RBI single, and Kansas City gained a little ground in its playoff pursuit.

Hosmer drove in the go-ahead run with his third hit in a three-run eighth inning, helping the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Saturday night.

Minnesota (74-68) entered the day with a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels for the final AL wild card. Kansas City is 31/ games 2 behind the Twins at 70-71.

“A game we had to win,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Lorenzo Cain led off the eighth with a single against Ryan Pressly (2-3), and Melky Cabrera walked. Hosmer’s single off Buddy Boshers, who threw only one pitch, scored pinch-runner Gore.

“In those situations when Terrance comes in the game, you’re looking up,” Hosmer said. “You know they’re not going to throw anything low, risk anything in the dirt because he’s going to take the next base. It’s just a huge threat anytime he comes in, so as a hitter you’re just looking to be real aggressive because of what he brings.”

Salvador Perez had an RBI double and Alcides Escobar a sacrifice fly to cap the inning.

Mike Minor (6-6) got the win with 12/ scoreless innings. Brandon 3 Maurer earned his second save in three chances since the Royals acquired him in a July 24 trade with San Diego.

Alex Gordon homered with two out in the Royals’ seventh off Jose Berrios to tie it at 2. It was Gordon’s sixth home run and his first since July 3, ending a 169 at-bat home run drought.

“Changeup, it was meant to be more outside,” Berrios said through an interpreter. “I don’t think it was middle of anything like that. I knew he was looking for it.”

Cain tripled in the first and scored on Cabrera’s ground out for the first Royals’ run. Cain finished

with three hits.

Royals rookie right-hander Jake Junis, who is 5-0 since a June 29 loss, allowed two runs and eight hits over 61/ innings. He struck out seven and 3 walked one.

Eddie Rosario took Junis deep in the third, and Byron Buxton homered in the sixth.

“The first one was a hanging breaking ball and he took advantage of it,” Junis said. “Buxton just had a really good at-bat.”

Berrios limited the Royals to two runs and eight hits over seven innings.

INDIANS 4, ORIOLES 2 The Cleveland Indians earned their 17th straight win, topping the Baltimore Orioles behind a pair of timely swings for Jay Bruce and Francisco Lindor. Bruce’s fourth-inning single put the Indians ahead to stay as Cleveland became just the second team in the expansion era — since 1961 — to win 17 straight in a season. The crowd of 30,459 stood throughout the ninth inning as Cody Allen retired the heart of Baltimore’s order for his 25th save.

YANKEES 3, RANGERS 1 Aroldis Chapman earned his first save since being removed as closer, finishing a one-hitter for the Yankees. Tyler Austin hit a go-ahead single in the ninth inning for wild card-leading New York. Texas’ only hit was a run-scoring double in the fifth inning off Luis Severino, who went seven innings in his first no-decision since July 15 at Boston.

ATHLETICS 11-11, ASTROS 1-4 Normally reliable Houston reliever Chris Devenski allowed two runs in the seventh inning, including Chad Pinder’s tiebreaking homer with two outs, and the Astros were swept in a doubleheader. Houston’s third straight loss to the last-place A’s loss dropped manager A.J. Hinch’s ballclub into a tie with streaking Cleveland for the best record in the American League at 86-56. Devenski (8-4) had allowed one earned run over his previous 15 appearances before getting touched up for two in the seventh.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CARDINALS 4, PIRATES 3

Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter homered, and the Cardinals beat the Pirates to gain ground in the NL Central. St. Louis pulled within three games of division-leading Chicago with its sixth victory in seven games. Tyler Lyons (4-0) pitched a scoreless inning for the win, and Juan Nicasio got three outs for his second save since he was acquired in a trade with Philadelphia on Wednesday. Carpenter’s 19th homer tied it at 3 in the seventh. Paul DeJong hit a leadoff double in the eighth and advanced on a groundout before coming home on Randal Grichuk’s bouncer to third, making it 4-3 St. Louis.

BREWERS 15, CUBS 2

Hernan Perez homered and drove in five runs, powering the Brewers to the runaway win. Chase Anderson (9-3) pitched five scoreless innings as Milwaukee pulled within three games of NL Central-leading Chicago. Anderson also helped himself with two hits and two RBIs hours after the Brewers announced Jimmy Nelson has a shoulder injury that will sideline the right-hander for the rest of the season. Milwaukee broke it open with eight runs in the third against Mike Montgomery (5-8) and reliever Justin Grimm.